Bengal Earmarks Rs 178 Crores for the Hills

The West Bengal government has earmarked Rs 178 crores for various projects in the hills.

In total the state government has allocated Rs 450 crores additional funds for North Bengal region out of which only 178 crores have been earmarked for the hills.

In the recently conculded state budget, there was no mention of any funds allocation for the hills, however the state government came up with a separate document titled ‘State Plan’ in which Rs 178 crores has been allocated under the ‘Hill Affairs’ section.

Speaking to the press Dr. H B Chettri, MLA from Kalimpong said that when I inquired on why only Rs 178 crores had been allocated for the hills, I was informed that the amount reflected the requisition for funds sent in from the GTA.

However, Dr. Chettri pointed out other instances where the hills will continue to remain deprived. He said, in 2013-14 Rs 2237 crores had been awarded for education development in the state, in 2014-15 that amount has gone up to 8000 crores. However, close to 32 schools in the hills have not been recognized and close to 1000 teachers have not been regularized. So our students and teachers are not going to benefit from this increase in education funding.

He further added, in 2012 the Bengal government had declared the formation of a University and Medical college in the GTA region, but till date no funds have been allocated for the same.

Highlighting the fact that despite the success of Kanyashree scheme, numerous hill students were yet to receive any support under that scheme, Dr. Chettri said, “I have asked for facts and stats relating to the same… ”

Further he said, “while the government has said that they have sanctioned two colleges in the GTA region Gorubathan and Pedong, the Bengal Cabinet is yet to approve the requisition for lecturers in Pedong college….”

He further informed that he raised the issue of non-Inclusion of Nepali as an optional subject in the WBCS examinations in the assembly. However, he did not specify what response he got.

Finally he said that he has raised many issues relating to drinking water, sanitation, development of regulated market in Kalimpong etc in the assembly. DC

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